Court of Appeal rules “unborn children have no right to life”

The courts might use a lot of words in their rulings but at the end of the day it is real life and flesh and blood they are talking about. It doesn't hurt to remember that.

The New Zealand Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court judge’s 2008 ruling that unborn children do not have a right to life.

In a 2-1 ruling it also dismissed comments made by the judge at the time that many abortions were being granted “on request”.

The Right to Life organisation had sued the Abortion Supervisory Committee for allegedly failing to review whether certifying consultants were lawfully granting women abortions.

Right to Life said too many abortions were being allowed on the grounds that keeping the baby would be a “threat to the women’s mental health”.

It said the committee should seek further information from consultants who approved abortions and ensure the law was complied with.

In the High Court decision in 2008, Justice Forrie Miller said there were reasons to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions. However, Justice Miller rejected arguments that an unborn child had a legal right to life in New Zealand.

The Court of Appeal has now upheld his ruling that the law does not recognise an unborn child’s right to life.

The court found that the Abortion Supervisory Committee did not have the power to review certifying consultants’ decisions as the decision was based on medical judgment alone.

“We consider that the appropriate channels of investigation would involve either a complaint by a patient or potentially by the committee itself, in which case the health and disability commissioner would become involved.”

“Alternatively, there might be a complaint to the police, in which case the police would investigate the matter.”

Newswaped thinks that ruling based on points of law is correct, but in terms of the overall abortion debate, newswarped is against abortion on demand and the ease at which new life is terminated in New Zealand and around the world.